What is the purpose of launching World Journal of Rheumatology?

Abstract

The first issue of World Journal of Rheumatology (WJR), whose preparatory work was initiated on December 16, 2010, will be published on December 31, 2011. The WJR Editorial Board has now been established and consists of 116 distinguished experts from 29 countries. Our purpose of launching WJR is to publish peer-reviewed, high-quality articles via an open-access online publishing model, thereby acting as a platform for communication between peers and the wider public, and maximizing the benefits to editorial board members, authors and readers.

Key Words: Rheumatology; Journal; Open-access; Peer-reviewed

INTRODUCTION

I am very pleased to announce that the first issue of World Journal of Rheumatology (World J Rheumatol, WJR, online ISSN 2220-3214, DOI: 10.5499), on which preparation was initiated on December 16, 2010, is officially published on December 31, 2011. The WJR Editorial Board has now been established and consists of 116 distinguished experts from 29 countries. It is my great honor to have the world reknowned rheumatologist Jörg HW Distler, MD, Assistant Professor, as the first Editor in Chief of WJR (Figure 1). What is the purpose of launching WJR? And what is the scope and how are the columns designed?

Figure 1 Editor-in-Chief of the World Journal of Rheumatolog. Jörg HW Distler, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine 3, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Universitätsstr, 29, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.

The role of academic journals is to exhibit the scientific levels of a country, a university, a center, a department, and even a scientist, and build an important bridge for communication between scientists and the public. As we all know, the significance of the publication of scientific articles lies not only in disseminating and communicating innovative scientific achievements and academic views, as well as promoting the application of scientific achievements, but also in formally recognizing the “priority” and “copyright” of innovative achievements published, as well as evaluating research performance and academic levels. To realize these desired attributes of a journal and create a well-recognized journal, the following four types of personal benefits should be maximized.

MAXIMIZATION OF PERSONAL BENEFITS

The maximization of personal benefits refers to the pursuit of the maximum personal benefits in a well-considered optimal manner without violation of the laws, ethical rules and the benefits of others.

Maximization of the benefits of editorial board members

The primary task of editorial board members is to give a peer review of an unpublished scientific article via online office system to evaluate its innovativeness, scientific and practical values and determine whether it should be published or not. During peer review, editorial board members can also obtain cutting-edge information in that field first hand. As leaders in their field, they have priority to be invited to write articles and publish commentary articles. We will put peer reviewers’ names and affiliations along with the article they reviewed in the journal to acknowledge their contribution.

Maximization of the benefits of authors

Since WJR is an open-access journal, readers around the world can immediately download and read, free of charge, high-quality, peer-reviewed articles from WJR official website, thereby realizing the goals and significance of the communication between authors and peers as well as public readers.

Maximization of the benefits of readers

Readers can read or use, free of charge, high-quality peer-reviewed articles without any limits, and cite the arguments, viewpoints, concepts, theories, methods, results, conclusion or facts and data of pertinent literature so as to validate the innovativeness, scientific and practical values of their own research achievements, thus ensuring that their articles have novel arguments or viewpoints, solid evidence and correct conclusion[1].

Maximization of the benefits of employees

It is an iron law that a first-class journal is unable to exist without first-class editors, and only first-class editors can create a first-class academic journal[2,3]. We insist on strengthening our team cultivation and construction so that every employee, in an open, fair and transparent environment, could contribute their wisdom to edit and publish high-quality articles, thereby realizing the maximization of the personal benefits of editorial board members, authors and readers, and yielding the greatest social and economic benefits.

CONTENTS OF PEER REVIEW

In order to guarantee the quality of articles published in the journal, WJR usually invites three experts to comment on the submitted papers. The contents of peer review include: (1) whether the contents of the manuscript are of great importance and novelty; (2) whether the experiment is complete and described clearly; (3) whether the discussion and conclusion are justified; (4) whether the citations of references are necessary and reasonable; and (5) whether the presentation and use of tables and figures are correct and complete.

SCOPE

The aim of WJR is to report rapidly new theories, methods and techniques for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and nursing in the field of rheumatology. WJR covers topics concerning osteoarthritis, metabolic bone disease, connective tissue diseases, antiphospholipid antibody-associated diseases, spondyloarthropathies, acute inflammatory arthritis, fibromyalgia, polymyalgia rheumatica, vasculitis syndromes, periarticular rheumatic disease, pediatric rheumatic disease, miscellaneous rheumatic diseases, and rheumatology-related therapy, pain management, rehabilitation, traditional medicine, and integrated Chinese and Western medicine. The journal also publishes original articles and reviews that report the results of rheumatology-related applied and basic research in fields such as immunology, physiopathology, cell biology, pharmacology, medical genetics, and pharmacology of Chinese herbs.

COLUMNS

The columns in the issues of WJR will include: (1) Editorial: To introduce and comment on the substantial advance and its importance in the fast-developing areas; (2) Frontier: To review the most representative achievements and comment on the current research status in the important fields, and propose directions for the future research; (3) Topic Highlight: This column consists of three formats, including (A) 10 invited review articles on a hot topic; (B) a commentary on common issues of this hot topic; and (C) a commentary on the 10 individual articles; (4) Observation: To update the development of old and new questions, highlight unsolved problems, and provide strategies on how to solve the questions; (5) Guidelines for Clinical Practice: To provide guidelines for clinical diagnosis and treatment; (6) Review: To systemically review the most representative progress and unsolved problems in the major scientific disciplines, comment on the current research status, and make suggestions on the future work; (7) Original Articles: To originally report the innovative and valuable findings in rheumatology; (8) Brief Articles: To briefly report the novel and innovative findings in rheumatology; (9) Case Report: To report a rare or typical case; (10) Letters to the Editor: To discuss and make reply to the contributions published in WJR, or to introduce and comment on a controversial issue of general interest; (11) Book Reviews: To introduce and comment on quality monographs of rheumatology; and (12) Guidelines: To introduce consensuses and guidelines reached by international and national academic authorities worldwide on the research in rheumatology.